She stood in the pouring rain, her muzzle pressed up against the window of an accessory shop. Every single drop of rain felt equally cold against her coat, but she didn't care, her eyes were stuck onto the beautiful jewellery lined up across the window shelves. One thing caught her attention in particular. A mesmerising, crystal lotus hairpin made of various coloured crystals combined. It was incredibly pretty, shimmering in the light, but it wouldn't suit her. Nothing like that ever suited her.
"Hey Tempest, I could arrest you for loitering," a monotonous voice echoed behind her.
She turned around and launched a spark of unstable magic at the guard's expressionless face. The guard dodged casually and yawned. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to take me down." he said.
When the unicorn set foot in the Crystal Empire, word quickly got around how she was the pony that captured four princesses as well as singlehandedly turning three to obsidian. While Princess Cadance, the Princess of Love, was forgiving, her husband did not take the news very well. He had secretly assigned a rookie Crystal Guard, to keep watch of her during her stay.
She sent a petrifying glare at him. "Want to try me?" she challenged.
"Tempting," the guard replied, seriously considering a small chance at revenge for her past assault on his princess. "But Captain Shining's already got me in trouble today."
"What did you do?"
"I messed up this morning, when we were doing team building exercises..."
"And?"
"...and I also slept on my shift."
"Rookie." she smirked.
The guard tapped on the shop's window with his spear. "Why are you standing outside an accessory shop in the rain anyway?" he questioned.
"Why are you still here?" The unicorn shot back defensively.
He turned away, she had a point, he is a pegasus and most of his kind aren't fond of rain. The winged ponies tend to fly above the clouds to avoid getting their feathers wet. "Fine, I'll go kill time elsewhere."
"So you're just going to leave a lady out in the rain by herself?" She yelled at him.
The guard sighed and extended a wing over her head. "Who said you were a lady?" he retorted.
She bucked him on his unarmored side angrily. "Why does everypony assume I like being a tomcolt?" she spat.
"You sure act like one," he shrugged, retracting his wing, rubbing his side.
The unicorn went face to face with the guard and sparked her broken horn. "Well, maybe I just want to be pretty for once!" she shouted. Her patience was way past boiling point. Everypony always murmured around her, but to hear somepony say it to her hurt the most. Even if the rest of Equestria saw her for who she was, she wanted at least one pony to see her as what she wanted to be. If only somepony would just open their eyes to what she wanted them to see her as. If only somepony was able to see her as just another unicorn mare.
"Maybe I want to be like other mares! Maybe I want to dress up and have a girl's night!" she shouted. "Maybe... Maybe I don't want to be seen as a crippled killing machine anymore."
The guard kept his gaze on her and blinked.
She placed a hoof against the cool glass window and cracked a small smile. "I like... things like these."
He stared at her with an unreadable expression, but the unicorn's eyes were no longer glaring at him, instead towards the ground. At that moment she seemed so little, so unlike the former lieutenant of the Storm King, the agile and strong hornless unicorn. She looked like a little filly who was just told she wasn't pretty enough. She looked weak. He shifted on the spot before taking action.
She watched as he entered the shop, snatched the lotus pin off the shelf and slammed it down in front of the shop assistant. A few minutes later he came out holding a tiny gift bag.
The guard threw the wrapping aside and stuffed the pin into her loose, wet mane. "Happy now? Won't go wandering out in the rain like a lost filly?"
"You're littering," She pointed at the crumpled up wrapping. "What kind of Crystal Guard are you?"
"The kind who does whatever he wants."
He began to fly off back to the castle. "See you later, Lady."
As soon as he left, she could feel the cold of her wet coat much more than before. He was getting further and further away, his orange coat fading into the distance. If she let him go, If she let him fly off, it would be over. A potential friend would be taken away, just like everything else she had was taken ever since her horn was broken.
Darn it, don't just fly away.
She watched as he stopped and landed for a second. Perhaps to turn around. Maybe he'd forgotten to tell her something. Then he began trotting. In the end, she was just being hopeful.
No, I won't let it end this way.
Her hoof touched the pin in her hair, the pin that guard had given her. She was dripping wet and freezing, but it made her feel special. It made her feel beautiful. Before she knew it, she started galloping after the stallion, splashing through the puddles across the Crystal Empire.
"Hey, rookie!"
She bucked him on his hind, sending him tumbling forward into a puddle of rainwater. She didn't care about the rain anymore, the rain didn't seem to bother her. Even though it soaked her coat and her hair, even though it would soon give her a cold, it made the lotus sparkle like never before. It made her sparkle.
"What the heck, Lady?! You trying to get yourself arrested or something? I have an inspection at the end of the day you know! Captain's going to kill me if he sees this dent..."
The guard's ranting faded as he gazed at the dark coloured unicorn, staring back at him with a stern yet calming gaze.
"I forgot to say thank you," she says, breaking the silence between them.
He blushed and looked away. "No problem..."
"I want to start over. My name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist. Nice to meet you." She extended a hoof.
He took her hoof in his, "I'm Flash Sentry. Pleasure, to meet you." He replied as they shook hoofs.
She smiled. Her heart brimmed with happiness. She had a feeling the rain wouldn't bother her anymore.
"How did you catch a cold in the middle of Summer?" a male pug-faced hedgehog asked.
His name is Grubber, a former servant of the Storm King who decided to tag along with his female companion on her trip. He placed a glass of warm tea on her bedside table and sat on an unoccupied chair.
Fizzlepop opened her eyes and glanced at the hedgehog who was currently eating pie. "Did you buy that pie with my bits?"
"Forgive and forget, am I right, friend?" Grubber answered nervously.
He turned to the window, "Heh, funny how we use to be servants of ol' Storm King, but we can't stop this rainstorm."
Fizzlepop Berrytwist sighed as she closed her eyes, "It did stop." she smiled, remembering her earlier encounter with her new friend Flash Sentry.
End
